Tale of a fantasy
by Coder3
Summary: An elf, a romance, and world domination. You get the picture.
1. Chapter 1

The forest was always a comforting place for her. Letting her mind wander, the girl allowed her senses to take it all in - the sounds of a stream nearby, the smell of evergreens, the feel of snow across her face. The girl opened her deep green eyes, pushing a stray of midnight blue hair behind her ear, and smiled as a nearby swallow twittered in the trees, its mate answering back. It was easy to be happy here. She didn't even feel the cold - the assortment of black leather pieces that made up her outfit kept her as warm as she needed to be.

She rather imagined that this was her natural habitat. It wasn't that she couldn't stand the heat but she did prefer the snow.

She knew people would laugh if they found her out here. Everyone thought she was crazy for not enjoying the beauty and splendor of the glade to the full. "What kind of wood elf spends their time in the snow on a rocky mountain?" They would probably mock her as some sort of mythical dwarf.

"_Or rather SHE would mock me_." Emeralds flashed against the white of the falling snow. "_Tomoe_." A frown adorned her once cheerful demeanor.

Natsuki ground her teeth at the thought of the green haired freak. Ever since her mother first presented her to the council at the age of 10, Tomoe had sought her out, bullied her, tricked the other brats into bullying her, and did all her power to make the bluenette's life miserable.

No one even came close to Natsuki's hatred for the girl. She generally made it a point to stay away from most people, Allyssa being an exception, but absolutely no one got under her skin like Tomoe. Natsuki hated that girl! From her weird haircut to her grey eyes and ugly mug to the simple fact that she was a couple years older than Natsuki, everything about her just ticked the bluenette off! The emerald eyed girl was even ashamed to say that they were both wood elves! Weren't wood elves supposed to be kind nature lovers or something?

Just because she didn't look like everyone else, Tomoe thought she was better than her when, in fact, it was the other way around. Natsuki could beat her at just about anything.

"_Well, except for making friends_," the bluenette silently thought.

"_Then again, what Tomoe has seems more along the lines of a following instead of real friendship. Those twits have nothing like me and Alyssa! Alright! 20,000 to Natsuki, Tomoe zero._" Natsuki did an arm pump into the air to signal another victory, only to realize what she was doing and take a quick look around. Her only audience was a nearby deer silently watching - probably ever since she had stopped walking.

Her sigh of relief seemed to break the deer's concentration and it began again on its way through the woods.

"_That was a bit embarrassing. If Alyssa was here, she'd be laughing till dawn to see me lose my cool and grinning like an idiot_." Natsuki began walking through the snow again, thoughts of her friend further warming her up in the cold air.

Alyssa was a high elf, and like most high elves she had beautiful blonde hair and an angelic appearance. And yet, it was her beautiful blue eyes that drew people the most to her. It was less common for a high elf to have blue eyes, most were red, and it usually meant that the person had high capability.

Natsuki had first been drawn to her because of her eyes. They were the same eyes as her deceased mother.

At the time of their meeting, about 6 years ago, Natsuki had been leaning against a tree for support. She was shaking and breathing heavily. Her tiny hands and arms were covered in scratches, burns, and cuts from her earlier scuffle with Tomoe and a few of her goons. She had been jumped, but was able to fight them off pretty well - that is, until Tomoe started using fire on her. Since the green haired girl was older, she unsurprisingly had already been taught elemental magic by her mentor. She knew Natsuki hadn't. She also knew Natsuki hated fire ever since the incident with her mother and would often try to make the younger girl shake in fear at the sight of it. Though it was prohibited to use offensive magic on others, something in that sick brain of Tomoe's told her that it was ok to use it on Natsuki.

Natsuki had been caught inside town but chased to its outskirts by Tomoe's goons. At first, Natsuki had thought she had lost them in the woods but then, suddenly, she felt herself being tackled to the ground. She hastily scrambled to her feet and avoided a punch thrown at her by the boy who knocked her down. Green eyes flared and the young girl began to throw her own punches in return. The first few punches connected but she had to duck to avoid the boy's haphazard swings. She knew she would win. Even the high elves on the council had recognized her enormous talents.

This process of avoiding heavy punches and kicks continued - even when the two kids that had been chasing her showed up and joined in - until Tomoe came out of nowhere and hit her from behind. She fell and a girl with brown hair and one of the two boys with purple hair moved to retrain her arms.

"Well, well, well. Now what do we have here?" Tomoe's smiled and her eyes reflected cruelty.

"Are you kidding me?" Natsuki smirked with a broken lip. "Even if you're an ass, couldn't you come up with anything even a little creati-"

A sharp punch across her face left the younger girl's sentence uncompleted.

Natsuki could feel her head ringing and she began to fear blacking out from another punch like that.

"Wait till I finish talking you disfigured freak!" Tomoe sneered as she took a few paces in front of Natsuki.

"Baka! Wait till what?! Till someone notices what you're doing?!" Defiant emeralds glared into grey.

"Like anyone would want to help some prideful brat like you? Besides," A pale hand reached up to Natsuki's ears, stroking the rounded outer shell, " the fact is that you were never meant to be born. These ears are proof of your low status. You are completely below me." Natsuki tried to move her face away but Tomoe had grabbed on to her ear, nails digging into soft cartilage. Tomoe's other hand wandered to take a handful of blue hair. Natsuki could only watch in horror and disgust as Tomoe brought the hair to her lips and kissed it.

"I think our lesson here today will be 'how to rid one of pride'."

And with those last words, a flame sparks from the older girl's fingertips. Natsuki cried out as her hair caught on fire.

Tomoe laughed as she watched the younger girl scream and try frantically to put out the fire with her hands. The smell of singled skin and hair filled Natsuki's nose and she started gagging amidst her tears. She vaguely noted that she had fallen to the ground in her attempt to douse the flames.

Once the fire was out, Tomoe had her goons pull Natsuki to her feet. She smiled happily and licked her lips when she saw Natsuki trembling in fear, tears falling down her pretty face.

"You're so beautiful when you're like this." She grabbed the other girl's chin. "You're rude mouth doesn't get in the way. It makes me crave more."

Natsuki screamed as Tomoe grabbed her arm, hand producing sparks. Grey eyes glowed with mirth and cruelty - until they noticed something wrong. Tomoe looked from the girl's burnt arm to her face. The younger girl had stopped screaming. "Tsk. How weak. She feinted." Tomoe took one more look at the unconscious girl. "Leave her and let's go." Tomoe sighed. "All the fun's gone if she isn't awake to enjoy it."

The two holding Natsuki up threw her to the ground and starting walking away. They honestly felt a little bad for the younger girl but were more afraid of what Tomoe might do to them if they ever said anything.

When Natsuki awoke after feinting, she lay there for a good while just wishing she were dead. But the pain caused by the burns on her hands and arm forced her to start moving - just in case Tomoe wanted a round two.

Natsuki cursed Tomoe and her existence as she fell onto the closest tree near her.

"What the hell does that psychotic bitch want from me?!" The scream tore through the air and emeralds grew shiny. Natsuki gasped in pain as one of her small hands punched the tree. Blood was smeared on the bark where a cut on her knuckle had reopened.

"Right... Need help..."

"Do you want _me_ to help?"

Green eyes widened as Natsuki fixed her gaze on where the small voice had come from.

That was when she first met Alyssa.

Natsuki had quickly put on a glare. "Great. Just what I need, a goodie-two-shoes." Natsuki sneered out sarcastically. "Thanks. But no thanks. I can heal myself."

Inwardly, a warning was going through Natsuki's head. "_Don't let her get close. I certainly don't need someone's pity - especially if they might get in the way. Besides, she'll probabaly just make fun of my ears_."

Alyssa's initial concern masked by seriousness turned into anger at Natsuki's words. "_Fine!" The blonde mentally sneered back. "If you don't want my help then go ahead and heal yourself_." Alyssa paused and turned over that statement in her head. "_Heal yourself. That's not possible_."

Alyssa looked over to the tree Natsuki was leaning against only to find her walking off towards the woods.

"Hey, wait! Stop!" Alyssa ran over to the injured girl. She gave the girl a once over.

"You're hurt," Alyssa put in lamely.

Natsuki stopped and turned to stare at her. The blonde looked to be around her age.

"_Is she an idiot_?"

Natsuki prepared her coldest voice in order to ward the girl off. "Really? I didn't notice that. Thank you for telling me but, as you just told me, I need to go fix myself up now so BYE." Natsuki made sure to put emphasis on the last word.

The bluenette was about to start her slow, painful journey again when she felt a hand on her uninjured arm. "Let. Me. Help."

For the first time, emeralds met sapphires and Natsuki felt immediately drawn into those beautiful blues. Alyssa, in turn, felt trapped under the piercing green gaze.

Natsuki had opened her mouth to say something but a wave of dizziness set in. Darkness quickly followed and she only realized she had started to fall when a pair of pale arms caught her. She looked up into deep blues and uttered a single word before she fell into an unconscious state once again: "mother..."

Natsuki's cheeks pinked slightly at this last thought.

She could remember being deathly embarrassed when Alyssa had told her about this statement after she had awoken the next day. She had been further mortified when she found out that she had been given help by a stranger and that her wounds had been healed by the high elf. She could hardly speak.

"_I guess it wasn't that strange to say that all those years ago_," the bluenette mused as she listened to her foot falls in the snow. She had been very young at the time and had recently lost her mother. "_So maybe I... Gah! Whatever! I can't get into all the deep crap." _

Even after that last thought, Natsuki paused and thought about the blonde.

"_Then again, she does kind of remind me of my mother. Same serious nature while still being really kind underneath it all_." Natsuki sighed and watched as her breathe fogged and then quickly dissipated.

"I miss Alyssa." The blue haired beauty whined aloud.

Now that they were older, Alyssa 18 and Natsuki nearly 18, they were expected to perform certain duties. Natsuki was often charged to go hunt, which she frankly didn't mind since she was so good at it, and Alyssa had recently been appointed to sit on the council in her father's stead while he was overcoming a strange illness.

That's where she was now. Natsuki smirked. "_Who knows? Maybe they're talking about me right now_."

Due to her rebellious nature, Natsuki knew the council house inside and out. She had been there multiple times for getting into fights. The council never believed her side of the story back then. The only reason why they didn't kick her out of town was because of her talent. Then again, more likely it had something to do with her mother being on the council before her death.

Yet after that scuffle with Tomoe, they started to listen to what she had to say.

Alyssa's to thank for that.

Though Natsuki had never noticed her before, Alyssa had been at the council building many of the times Natsuki had been brought in and had been secretly watching her. She knew about the girl's deformity but didn't think it all that important. She was actually rather amused by the girl's personality.

She was also at the council building when she happened to see Natsuki run pass the window with three people pursuing her.

Alyssa had immediately asked her guard and childhood friend, Miyu, to go and get her father.

Miyu wasn't as pretty as Alyssa in Natsuki's opinion. She had red eyes and pale hair and had a fairly normal appearance but Natsuki always found the high elf to be a little creepy and never really became friends with her. However, since she was fond of Alyssa and didn't mess with their friendship - she supposed the girl wasn't all that bad.

After Miyu had left, Alyssa had followed Natsuki's trail until she found the bluenette in the woods. She had to carry her back to her home when Natsuki had feinted the second time.

Apparently Alyssa told her father what had happened to the other girl - after first bombarding Natsuki with questions when she woke up. The bluenette told the girl everything. Well, almost everything. She made sure to avoid any questions that were too personal or about her earlier statement that she could heal herself. Her mother had always told her to never tell a soul about that last part.

Anyway, story cut short: the council started listening to Natsuki a bit more instead of just pushing her aside as some emotional brat that lost her mother. Tomoe of course denied everything. However, the burn on Natsuki's arm was still fresh when Alyssa found her and, along with her burnt hair, was proof enough for the council to grow suspicious of foul play.

Natsuki thought of Alyssa's smile when she told the bluenette that she would protect her. Natsuki denied needing assistance, but for some weird reason Alyssa stuck to her. She couldn't deny now how much she had really needed a friend then. And the fact that Tomoe wouldn't go anywhere near her with a council member's daughter around was really useful.

Natsuki stopped and looked up the sky. The snow had stopped. From behind the clouds, she thought she might have seen the sun peeking out. "Sun, sun stay away. Come back and play another day." Natsuki chimed.

It wasn't that she disliked the sun - she just liked the snow more.

Emerald eyes scanned the forest surrounding her current path. She recognized that she was almost at her destination and started moving her feet again. Soon, the meadow came into view. It was covered in frost and snow and positioned so that it ended in a cliff with a sheer drop and a beautiful view of endless forest. Her mother had shown her this place when she was very small and she sometimes made the trek out here to be alone and maybe sometimes to escape Tomoe.

Now, though, she came in order to pick a certain kind of herb which only grew in this region. It was a herb called Rosenleaf and was said to heal just about any sickness. Since normal elves seemed to fear the cold, it was nearly impossible to find the herb in the city. For once, Natsuki praised herself for not being normal. If having strange features helped her best friend's sick father then she could care less about whether her ears were pointy or rounded.

Emerald eyes spotted the red herb growing in most abundance near the cliff's edge so she made her way over. Just as she took off her wooden bow and pack, a strong wind came up the cliffs face and swirled her blue hair around her face. It blew through her black leathers and she felt a shiver run through her. She didn't mind the cold but she didn't fancy the thought of possibly getting sick either. Her hands landed on a red scarf in her bag and she quickly tugged it around her neck - grateful for the gentle comfort. At one end, a wolf's paw was sown into the soft yarn. It was the last gift her mother had ever given her.

After filling a wheat sack with a large amount of the Rosenleaf, Nasuki packed it into her bag and made ready to leave. She was glad she had found such a large amount of the herb since she really didn't know how much was needed to help Alyssa's father. Plus she could always make some extra cash on the side if she sold it.

Natsuki made her turn to leave but found herself falling back to her knees, a shaky hand extended in front to stop herself from completely falling on her face. Pain filled her head and her unused hand reach behind to confirm that she was bleeding. When her ears stopped ringing, she became aware of a very distinct cackle from behind her. Eyes shot up from bloody hand to the opposite end of the meadow where she confirmed Tomoe's position.

Tomoe's evil grin became even wider, reaching all the way to her pointy ears, when she saw the hate swarming in emeralds. "Hello Natsuki. Happy to see me again? I've been thinking a lot about you lately. I never got to finish my mark on you." Tomoe started moving across the meadow. Natsuki noticed that she was bundled up tightly – somehow the clashing of the many jackets' multiple colors making Tomoe look even more crazed.

Natsuki slowly stood up and narrowed her eyes as she noticed the intruder coming closer. She felt dizzy but decided to ignore it while wiping the blood from her hand on her black pants.

"I've thinking of you too, Tomoe." Natsuki grinned when that thought flickered through Tomoe's eyes and seemed to displease the girl.

"How sweet. However, I doubt you'll ever think again after I'm done with you."

Natsuki shook her head - both at that last statement and to clear it of the fuzziness blanketing her mind. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Your very existence irks me. Yours is of a lower race that should be wiped from the earth!"

Maybe it was just the headache but Natsuki was starting to feel very confused. Lower race? "What the heck does that mean? We're both elves - we're even both wood elves! I'm not some damned monster!" Natsuki shouted.

The gleam in those grey eyes left Natsuki more than a little unsettled. "Oh, so no one ever told our sweet Natsuki? How sad."

Natsuki felt her heart starting to pound in her chest - lips going dry. "What..."

Before the girl had time to form another word, a giant boulder dislodged itself at Tomoe's command and hurtled through the air towards Natsuki.

Black and blue flashed through the air as the girl moved aside at terrific speed. Before Tomoe had time to summon more rock from the earth, Natsuki willed a 3 meter thick, 20 meter high rock wall between them that spanned the length of the entire field. It stopped Tomoe's advance and allowed Natsuki to gain a couple breaths to clear her mind.

"_Whatdidshemean?whatdidshemean? What. Did. She. Mean!? Of course I'm an elf! My mother was one! She had pointy ears for crying out loud?! How does that not just scream ELF?! It's these damn round ones that makes everyone else my age hate me! Why in the world should they hate me anyway?! Most of the adults don't hate me - well at least not for my ears. What the heck is going on?!_" Natsuki's brain felt like it was getting an overload after all the questions, which was definitely not helping her already injured head.

"_Ok Natsuki. Stop. Breathe_." After taking a few more deep breaths, she felt her head and heart calm enough to assess the situation. Tomoe was on the other side of that wall. For some completely pointless reason, the psycho wanted to seriously harm and kill Natsuki. "_No. She may hate my guts, but would she really kill me? An elf wouldn't do that. At least I wouldn't like to think that..."_

Natsuki looked around herself and found that she was only a few feet from the cliff's edge.

It marked the boundary of the elf kingdom and if going over it didn't kill her then she would be punished by the council by death. Anyone who ventured beyond the boundaries was considered exiled.

"_So that mean the only exit is through a crazy person. Great_." She laughed out loud. "_If Alyssa were here she'd persecute me for merely getting into this position_," Natsuki thought.

"Should you really be laughing at a time like this or are you just mocking me!?" Tomoe's shout could be heard over the wall.

"Well we're not going anywhere, so why don't you shut up and let me laugh at the situation? It's ridiculous to start with. I hope you realize you can't win."

Natsuki listened for Tomoe's reply but heard nothing. She stepped closer to the wall trying to decide whether she should scale it to see what Tomoe was doing or just knock it down and hope for the best.

At least she knew that whatever happened, she could win in a fight. Natsuki prided herself in her ridiculous power levels and felt that the green haired girl was of little threat now that she had finished her tutelage and mastered all offensive spells.

Natsuki took a deep breath and was about to make her move when the earth started to violently shake. The wind picked up and pushed the girl around. Natsuki wobbled on her feet and eventually lost her balance, scarf flapping angrily in the wind. "_Not fun_." Natsuki shook her head. "_An earthquake_?"

Natsuki felt a presence above her and raised her head to see Tomoe floating on a rock, holding a very distinct staff. The bluenette's mouth dropped open, eyebrows furrowed in anger. She knew that staff and it was certainly not where it was supposed to be.

"Tomoe! You dumb ass! What do you think you're doing?!"

"This, my dear Natsuki, is me projecting my power! I had thought of grilling you alive but this seems like a much more dramatic way to kill you." Tomoe raised her hands and the earth shook even more.

"Stop! You know you can't handle that! You'd destroy both of us just because you're jealous of me?!" Nasuki screamed at the top her lungs to be heard over the wind.

Tomoe's grin faltered and she moved her sights back on Natsuki - her face twisted into a horrible scowl. "You think I would destroy part of the kingdom to get rid of you just because I'm jealous?! I'm doing this FOR the kingdom!" And with that last shout, Tomoe brought the staff down in front of her and started chanting.

Natsuki couldn't move. She was pinned by the wind and too dizzy by the shaking ground to be able to concentrate on summoning any magic. For the first time since that fight nearly eight years ago, she felt truly afraid. She could hear the ground crumbling beneath her and with it, her strength. "No...don't…help..."

A shattering noise rumbled across the sky.

The cliff crumbled.

Natsuki felt her body fall into nothing.

She felt darkness quickly consume her.

And last of all, she felt her body fill with warmth.

"_Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to die_." Natsuki thought.

"Live." A voice replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Purple eyes widened at the sight before her. The girl took a few steps to get a better look at the giant block of ice a couple meters away. The redhead stared in awe. "_It's a girl_…" the thought made her draw another step closer.

She had accidentally found the underground passageways that she was currently in when her party had run into a bit of trouble and split up to hide in the forest. At first she had stayed near the entrance, but her curiosity got the best of her when she noticed that it was unusually cold inside – especially since it was summer. Further inspection showed an archway leading to a manmade passage made completely of a greyish white stone.

Of course it wasn't too surprising to find it since they had explored many passages of the like in the past. The group's hideout was located in one of the much larger tunnels running through the mountain and it only made sense to see where the others led. This one, however, was much farther away than any of the tunnels that they had explored.

The girl pulled out a torch and lit it with a snap of her fingers. She smiled. Sometimes it was so convenient to be a fire mage. Certainly she could just create a ball of flame in her hand, but since she was being chased she thought it better to conserve what energy she had left.

Pulling her pack back on and her green cloak closer around herself, she set off down the passageway. It was a rather small path but the walls looked sturdy – it wouldn't be coming down on her head anytime soon.

Immediately, she noticed that it was getting colder the farther in she went. The white spots on the walls that she had thought were part of the stones' coloration were actually frost. In the light of the torch she could even see her breath.

Yet she kept moving. This wasn't just about her curiosity anymore. Something was pulling her in.

After a bit the tunnel led out into a wider passageway. It veered off to the left and the right. The force that was pulling her was to the left.

The girl left her torch in a ring on the wall to mark her path and started a new one as she continued on. More tunnels connected to this one, though many of them were already caved in. The redhead didn't mind these. She only followed whatever was pulling her forward at the moment.

Soon the frost on the walls became thicker and then it turned to ice. The floor became slippery and icicles hung from the ceiling, but it didn't daunt her. The pull was becoming much stronger now.

The girl came to a section in the tunnel that had partly collapsed. She moved up and around the larger stones until she came to a sort of clearing. Everything was completely frozen here.

That's where she saw it.

Blocking her path was a ginormous piece of ice. Yet there was something inside. Whatever it was, it was what had been drawing her down this way. She used her free hand to form a large ball of fire to light up the area… and gasped in shock at what she saw.

It was a girl encased in ice. The block was tilted so she wasn't perfectly upright but that didn't ruin the effect she gave off. "_It's like she's ascending into the sky_. _Like an angel_."

The girl was truly beautiful. Her dark blue midnight hair looked like it was floating around her in the ice. It contrasted against her ebony skin and made it look like the purest white. Her eyes were closed but she had an expression of complete serenity.

"She looks like she's sleeping," the redhead sighed in sadness. The girl looked so young – around her own age – and someone like that to be dead was a bit of a downer.

The redhead took the last few steps up to the ice. "_Quite sad_." She thought. She dispelled the fire spell lighting up the passage and place her hand on the ice. "_Quite sad."_

Suddenly, a most uncomfortable feeling accosted her body.

It was frozen in place. She looked to her hand to see the ice cracking like a web around it. Energy was leaving her in leaps and bounds and it was only when almost every drop of her magic had been drained that she was able to tear her hand away. Breathing hard from the effort and sudden lack of energy, the redhead made a quick retreat away from the ice in front of her.

A shiver ran through her as she felt a drip of ice cold water hit her neck. She looked around to see the ice quickly evaporating. Violet eyes moved back to the girl in front of her.

The ice was melting.

* * *

Darkness. No sound, no sight, no touch.

Just Darkness.

Then - a whisper.

Ears strained to catch the voice.

"_Natsuki…_"

The girl tried to reach out to the voice but it slipped through her fingers.

Silence.

She wished to form words but the darkness was too strong… It had been so long since she had known anything besides this eternal black hole. It had been so long since she had fallen into this dream which she felt she might never awake from.

Yet, she was not devoid of hope.

Something stirred here. The voice had brought it. Or rather, maybe it had been here all along. For all she knew, whatever it was, it could have been bound within the darkness since she had been imprisoned here. That didn't matter though. Now it was alive. And with its awakening it brought the hope that, for better or for worse, it would set her free.

The nameless being came closer to her. She stood her ground.

A hand reached out to her. She took it.

Her world of darkness disappeared.

And never before had Natsuki seen such a vivid shade of red.

* * *

Natsuki awoke.

An excruciating pain hit the bluenette's lower left back. She tried to cry out but her mouth only filled with water. Then she was falling.

Green eyes shot open in time for her to catch herself from doing a face plant on the stone floor beneath her. The pain in her back felt like the burn she had experienced so long ago. It was sucking all the energy out of her and she grunted with the effort to hold herself from collapsing.

Accompanied with this pain and the actions her body were taking to dispel whatever water was still in her lungs, Natsuki had to take a couple moments to realize that the ground was shaking beneath her. That observation led to another: It was completely silent. For the moment, it appeared she was deaf. She was also freezing as her clothes were soaked through.

A torch hit the ground in her field of vision. She weakly looked up to see a girl standing in front of her. It was a bit dark and her eyesight was blurry but she could make out the female form of a red head with short hair and bright violet eyes. The girl stood there looking at her, mouth agape.

Natsuki's mind defogged itself enough, while fighting the pain in her back, for her to attempt a glare. She had fended off plenty of stares in the past and people usually looked away when she confronted them with her death glare. However the girl kept staring.

"_Annoying_."

She was about to say something to shake the girl from her apparent stupor but her thoughts were interrupted when the shaking beneath her became more violent and dirt started to fall around the two. The red head looked around frantically and began to shout something at Natsuki – though it didn't do much good since not a sound reached the bluenette's ears.

The red head sensed something was wrong with the girl on the floor. She saw the glare turn into a dumb founded face.

Hastily pulling the deaf girl to her feet, grabbing her torch at the same time, she started to drag the bluenette down the passageway. They had to move around some boulders but beyond those they broke out into a run. More and more debris started falling and the urgency of the situation caused both girls to put more speed on. Natsuki's hearing returned in time for her to hear a loud crash behind her as the tunnel started to collapse. More and more sounds indicated that it wouldn't be long before the entire structure fell on them.

The burning sensation in her back had faded away only to be replaced by the stress her body was starting to feel after being so depleted of energy. Heart ramming against her chest, Natsuki desperately searched for any spark of energy she could use to force the earth back.

There was nothing. She was completely drained. It was quite a strange thing to feel, really, for someone who was used to feeling so much power – now so helpless in the most critical of situations. Natsuki's breathing sped up in tune to her heart beat as the girls raced along the tunnel. She tried to dodge a rock falling from the ceiling but, due to the strong grip the other girl had on her and the fact that she was quite spent, it hit her left shoulder. The pain was sharp, but quickly taken over by numbness.

"_I feel like I'm supposed to be panicking by now_," the exhausted bluenette thought, though she couldn't summon the energy to actually follow through with that action.

Natsuki looked at the sweaty hand clutching her's. If it weren't for the red head pulling her along then she'd probably be crushed by now.

Ahead, a torch was left burning at the mouth of another tunnel and the two headed down that way. This route was a lot smaller than the last and the girls had to slow down their pace in order to avoid any rocks that had fallen onto the path. The shaking was beginning to subside, much to the relief of the runners, and around another bend in the path showed an archway with light leaking in from outside. Past the archway was a small cave and beyond its mouth – the forest.

Natsuki felt her heart leap with joy and utter exhaustion as she flopped down on a patch of grass far enough from the cave as to be safe if it were to collapse.

Besides her hard intakes of breath, and of the person lying beside her, she could hear the gradual uptake of animal noises as the earth finally stopped shaking. Strands of blue hair partly covered her eyes but she could see the dust cloud already settling where they had just escaped.

The red head kept panting but was starting to regain her breath.

Natsuki felt a chill as a wind blew over her soaked-through clothes and something in her pack was poking her in the back but she couldn't bring herself to move.

There were voices in the distance – the shouting annoyed her – and whoever they belonged to was getting closer. Yet her body stayed still. Curiosity or even the usual need to be suspicious of all who approached lay dormant for the moment.

All started to fade away as the bluenette felt a heavy drowsiness overtake her.

The last thing she heard before she fell into darkness again was the voice that had awoken her.

"_Natsuki…_"

* * *

"Is that your name?" Natsuki nearly jumped from the cot she was laying on at the sound of the high pitched voice in her ear.

A girl with spiky black hair and two braided pigtails kneeled by the edge of the bed. She had a big grin on her face that reached all the way to her golden eyes.

"What?" A confused bluenette asked.

"You said the word 'Shizuru'. Is that your name?" Came the cheerful reply.

Her tone of voice and childish face suggested her to be at least a few years younger than Natsuki. She wore a white shirt and trousers that were wrapped at the ends by black cloth. Over the white shirt she wore a typical deer skin vest dyed black and a necklace holding a red gem. Emeralds looked the girl up and down for any weapons. There didn't appear to be any.

"_Still not a good idea to let my guard down_. _Shizuru?_"

Natsuki pushed the name off as irrelevant information and glared at the smiling girl. She made a reach for the knife that she kept hooked to her belt – only to find soft cotton. She looked down to see that she was no longer in her familiar leathers but instead in a white night gown.

"Wha?! Where are my clothes?!" Natsuki fumed. Her face felt heated from the thought of someone else dressing her and she brought the blanket up to hide whatever blush might be sprouting – making sure to intensify the glare which was having little to no effect on the younger girl. The sudden movement made her shoulder hurt and she could feel her temper building from physical and mental stress.

"_Grrr… What's wrong with these girls? First that redhead, then this girl. Thickheaded I guess_? _Or maybe I'm just losing my touch." _

The blood rushing to her head made her feel dizzy and she took a couple breaths to analyze the situation. The spikey haired girl in front of her said something in answering to her question but the chatter hardly reached the dazed bluenette.

Emerald eyes took in their surroundings. They were in some sort of log house by the look of things. There was only one room but that area was divided into two sections – a sleeping area with three beds (one of which she was sleeping on) and the kitchen area set with a table and fireplace. It seemed rather cramped and crude compared to the stone buildings of her village, but that thought was quickly forgotten as she spied her pack and bow next to a door set in the wall across from her.

"_At least those are safe."_

"…and then I was really amazed, you know? I can't imagine sleeping for four whole days. I'd get so hungry!" The girl's hyper voice floated back to Natsuki's attention. "_Four days? Did I really sleep that long? And how long was I asleep before then?_"

The younger girl didn't notice the bluenette's distraught expression and kept speaking in her excited manner. "And Mai said…" the girl paused for a second to think. "Oh! I was supposed to tell her when you woke up! Stay here."

Natsuki sighed in relief to be alone again when the girl disappeared out the door across the room from her. She needed time to analyze her situation and that chatterbox had only given her dizzy mind a headache. Focus was what she wanted and that's exactly what she lacked at the moment. The sudden movement of the girl running through the door had caused her bow to fall over, but even that slight annoyance couldn't register in the jumble of thoughts going through Natsuki's head.

"_Ok. Take a deep breath and think this through. You were on the mountain, then you were in a cave. No clue how you got there but… you blacked out. Wait. There was that fight with Tomoe. Stupid girl. She could have killed me! I don't know how I survived but it looks like I woke up in one of the border temples_."

The border temples were a set of underground structures that surrounded the entire kingdom. As the name implies, it is the border to the kingdom and is used as a safeguard to defend against the evils that plagued the surrounding forests. It was said that the ancients poured their blood into the framework in order to create such a powerful magic.

No one ever crossed the borders. If they did the ancient magic, the monsters outside, or the council would surely kill them.

Natsuki's eyes shifted to the window by the door. "_Tomoe knew what she was doing when she threw me off that cliff. It's a lucky thing I survived_."

However, it worried her that she had been in one of the border temples. And now, she was no longer on the mountain.

"_Does that mean I crossed the border?"_ Natsuki quickly shook her head at that thought. "_No there wouldn't be another elf here. No elf survives crossing the border. Furthermore, I wouldn't be alive_."

Her thoughts were interrupted by the return of the spikey haired kid. Even though she had been tormented all her life about her ears, she couldn't help but feel relieved when the girl's pointy ears came into view. Yet the building relief turned to shock as she looked at the person who followed behind her and stopped at the edge of her bed.

It was another girl – this time with short red hair, though not the same girl as the other day. This one was a bit shorter and definitely had a flatter chest than that busty one – however that wasn't what left Natsuki so speechless. There was one thing about this girl that was quite different to the black haired one standing next to her.

"_Her ears… they're round…" _Natsuki blinked_. "Like mine."_

"I couldn't find Mai, but Nao returned from her trip so I brought her instead. I'm Mikoto by the way." The spikey haired girl said cheerfully.

Natsuki barely heard the sentence as she processed the difference between the two girls in front of her. Mikoto definitely had pointed ears so she knew she wasn't seeing things.

Her attention was brought back to the new girl's eyes as the she spoke for the first time. Natsuki started again when she realized she couldn't understand what she was saying.

Mikoto interpreted for her: "I guess she's not much of a talker, she said."

The girl with the ruby red hair eyed her up and down. She smirked at the bluenette before something dangerous flashed through her lime green eyes.

With that look, Natsuki's mind went back into focus and high alert – allowing her time to grab the hand in which a knife suddenly appeared pushed against her throat. The red head, Nao, was on top of her, left hand holding down a wrist while the other struggled to hold a position against the bluenette's throat.

Nao looked at the girl under her. "_Hmmm… quite a hotty_." She struggled a bit with the bluenette as the girl tried to push her off. "_Feisty too. Though she looks like she could be trouble_."

"Mikoto. Why aren't the prisoner's hands tied?" Nao tried keeping a cold tone but she was afraid her amusement was leaking through. Lime eyes never left emeralds. The girl underneath her squirmed and looked so angry and confused that Nao almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

The bluenette growled out a string of foreign words that Nao assumed were curses. She could feel a stinging sensation building against her wrists and started to wish the girl would calm down.

"Why?" Mikoto replied. "Mai said she was harmless. She also didn't like to think what your men might do to her." Mikoto frowned at the question like the answer should have been obvious.

Nao sighed. "Did it ever occur to anyone that she might be a spy for that witch? Mai's too trus- Owe!" Nao sat back on the bed in surprise. "Tch! The little bitch burned me!" Amusement quickly turned sour. She looked at the red finger marks on her wrists starting to turn into welts before returning her angry glare back to forest greens. "Great. She's a fucking magician."

Natsuki reflected the glare coolly – desperately trying to school her expression so as to not let her mounting confusing show. "_What the hell are they talking about_?" She noticed the other girl stiffen slightly at the last statement made by the redhead. The wary look Mikoto now gave her kept her from asking any questions.

The stare down dragged on until it was broken by the entrance of the red head she had first met in the cave. She too, Natsuki noticed, had rounded ears.

The newest addition to the room spoke a few of the foreign words to Mikoto, who responded back, before turning to Natsuki. The bluenette felt her glare lighten up a bit at the smile and kindness in those eyes. Yet a glance at the person still sitting on her bed made her pull her walls back up. She would not be caught unawares again – even if this person had helped her already.

"Hello. My name's Mai Tokiha. What's yours?"

Natsuki couldn't deny that she felt a little glad inside that this one could at least speak the same language as her. "Natsuki Kuga." Her eyes moved to watch her hands playing with the blanket – all the while keeping her guard up. This one was nice and she had the same deformity she did. The least she could was give her name.

Then again, the other red head across from her also shared the same deformity and all Natsuki wanted to do for her at the moment was sock her in the jaw.

Mai's smile widened a bit at her stern but quiet response before she put on a more business like face. "So then Miss Kuga, do you think you can answer a few questions for me?"

"It's just Natsuki." Came the hasty reply – this time a little louder – before emerald eyes ducked back down to the blanket in her lap.

Mai couldn't help but smile a bit more at the cuteness underneath the tough demeanor. It was rather adorable.

"So then Natsuki, what were you doing in that ice crystal type thing?"

Perplexed emeralds looked up into violets. "I'm not sure what you mean."

Mai tried again. "When I first found you, you were basically inside a block of ice. Are you a magician? That may seem a stupid question to you but I need something to reassure my friends. You don't seem threatening but it would help your situation if you told us the extent of your magic."

Once again, Natsuki couldn't find the words to say anything.

Nao asked Mai a question and she replied in that other language. The smaller girl then retorted, much angrier this time, and showed the burns Natsuki had made on her wrists. Mai paused and eyed the bluenette for a moment before replying.

Nao clamped her mouth shut and made her way outside the cabin, pausing at the door to look Natsuki over once more. She smiled evilly at the other girl before making her exit. A shiver crawled up the bluenette's back.

Mai sighed and turned back to the girl in the bed. She spoke without violets leaving emeralds. "Mikoto, go see what you can do for Nao." The redhead waited until the other girl left. "Natsuki, Nao says you burned her. Is that true? It's not good to pick fights. _Especially_ when it's Nao." Mai said in a tired tone of voice.

Natsuki's eyes narrowed. "What are you? My mother? If you're going to treat me like a child then go fuck off. As for the brat that just left, she held a knife to my throat. What sane person lets some wacko slit their throat willingly?!" She felt like she was in front of the council once again trying to convince them that Tomoe was a psychopath. "_I do feel guilty about burning her. I didn't mean to but I guess I still don't have full control of my senses yet. I would never burn someone willingly." _

Anger boiled in the girl as she thought about Tomoe's past actions towards her. Natsuki took another deep breath to calm herself down. It seemed she was doing that a lot today.

Mai waited for anything else the bluenette might have to say but when nothing happened she moved on. "I'm sorry my friend treated you so rudely. She's not exactly miss charming but I'm sure you'll get used to her." Natsuki flinched at that statement but didn't say a word. Mai could read the question in her eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for the moment. Though I may think otherwise, our group believes that you may be a spy for the red witch. The most I can do for you right now is to keep you with me."

Mai could see rebellion in that beautiful face and proceeded to intercept the girl before she exploded. "Don't worry; it's only a few people that believe this. I don't think that - specially after seeing you in that chunk of ice. Besides," the redhead continued with a more cheerful tone, "it's easier to survive in groups. Out here in the Black Forest, it's almost impossible for someone to live more than a few days by themselves. Even if you're able to avoid the witch's agents during the day, there's a good chance you'll be hunted by monsters or direwolves at night. It's just not safe."

Mai was glad the other girl had once more calmed down. She seemed to be thinking through her options. Mai pushed forward again. "Everyone's nice here and I'm positive-"

"I'm not sure." Natsuki interrupted. Violet eyes widened with worry but before she could say anything, Natsuki continued, "I'm not sure how I came to be in that block of ice. I was in a fight and blacked out and then I was there." Natsuki moved so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed and facing the standing redhead.

Natsuki closed her eyes. "As for your other question, I have no idea what tribe a magician is from or what it is. Therefore, I'll have to say that I am not one. I am a wood elf from a southern tribe."

"_If this is about my ears, I might just pummel her.._. _Ears…_"

The bluenette could feel her curiosity exploding as she was reminded of the oddity. She waited for a response but when none came – she took the other girl's silence to mean she could continue. "Now I have a few questions of my own." Natsuki built up her courage. "Umm... it's about… uh… Why are you deformed?" she ended up blurting out.

Natsuki bit the inside of her lip and held her breath. She opened her eyes to look at the other girl. What she was met with wasn't quite what she was expecting. Once again, the girl appeared to be in a stupor.

Mai blinked once then blinked again. She closed her mouth and moved to sit next to the girl on the bed. They sat there – one too afraid to speak and the other too shocked.

Natsuki raged inside her head. _"Stupid! Stupid! How could you ask her something so, so stupid! You'd kill anyone who'd be so cruel as to ask you that and then you-you… Gah! The one person in this place that is nice enough to outweigh the annoyance and you tick her off. Great!"_

Yet she couldn't deny that her curiosity was just as strong as her current self-hate. If she could understand why they had the deformity then maybe she could better understand herself. Her mind raced with possibilities. "_Maybe it's some kind of disease."_

The redhead beside her finally moved her lips. "Hold on. What part of myself are you referring to? I wouldn't call myself a great beauty but I don't think I'm that ugly either." The girl stated with a prick in her voice.

Natsuki frantically shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I-I meant your e-ears." She stuttered and cleared her throat. "Why are they deformed…like mine?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking." Mai brought a hand up to her own ear to feel the rounded shell. "Everyone's ears look like this."

Natsuki stopped to take that info in. "_She said everyone_…"

"There's more of us?" She couldn't help the wonder from showing in her voice. "Why have I never heard of an elf tribe with rounded ears?"

Mai smiled and leaned back on the bed. "Well to start, we're not elves."

She looked into shocked emeralds. "We're human."


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of wings beating the air broke the near silence of the forest. A crow broke through the canopy of trees and landed on the first branch he spotted. His black feathers gave him near invisibility in the deep dark of the Black Forest, which he found useful when spying on the humans. Yet the forest was still a dangerous place for him and he made sure to always stay alert. He was sure any nonhuman creature could easily spot him from the ground. This was the Black Forest after all. Far more evil things than himself rested here.

There was a reason they called it the Black Forest. Most obviously it was called that because hardly any light could be seen filtering through the trees and, due to this, the forest could be rather dim during the day.

At night, the forest was complete suicide to travel through. The darkness could swallow a man whole. Even with a torch, a person could see only a foot or so in all directions. The forest had that effect on light, the capacity to almost completely overcome it. The only creatures that could roam through this dark hell were the monsters that were once worshiped as guardians of this forest. Now, they were nothing but wild beasts. It was no wonder that it was the stuff of nightmares since times of old.

Still, there was a lesser known story related to the derivation of its name. Originally, the forest became known as the Black Forest because it resided in and around the Black Valley. Quite different from the forest, the valley was a beautiful place full of waterfalls and green meadows. Surrounding the valley on three sides were miles of massive cliffs of pure black stone that stood like menacing giants during the night or in the morning's mist. Legend had it that these walls held the doorway to the Black Kingdom – the birthplace of every magician.

It was a very isolated location, what with three walls and a nightmarish forest blocking the only entrance, and thus was established as a very magical place. To those who had studied the magic arts, or at least bothered to open a text book, this place was considered sacred ground. The earth generated particles of untamed magic in large quantities here and people who could tap into that were most powerful when in the Black Valley. However, in the past thousand years it had been fought over many times by different kingdoms so not many were able to enjoy it. Eventually, it did become a neutral zone… Though, it was no longer anymore. Now it was held by the greatest power in the land.

The crow looked down as he saw an example of that power. One of the Rose Guards moved slowly from behind a tree, the vines making up its body only apparent at its feet when it moved. The crow turned its head so he could look at it with his good eye. Mostly white and featureless, the plant creatures were so named because of the red roses that were placed where the iris and pupil should be in their eyes – a reference to the artist herself. From this distance, the figure looked almost like a ghost. Its white skin created quite the contrast to the dark surroundings, and red eyes seemly glowed. Though ostensibly slow, the Rose Guard shared their master's power and could be used as her eyes and ears.

Recently, the guard had been acting strangely. Where in the past they had mostly ignored the humans living in the Black forest, for the last few days they had been gathering around the village. The witch was definitely up to something. Then again, how long had she been up to something? This land was a diamond for those with magic but for the woman to place so many of her personal guards for such a long period of time was rather curious. Perhaps she was expecting an attack – this land was on the border between her territory and the other kingdoms'. Or maybe it was the other way around.

The crow's thoughts stopped when he felt eyes upon him. The plant creature was watching him from the ground. A tension filled the air as the two stared at each other.

The crow had always wondered just how much consciousness the witch shared with her creations. Looking at one of those creatures now, he could easily believe it was more than he previously considered. He let out a nervous squawk to break the silence that had descended and took flight as he moved about the trees. He knew his act wouldn't have fooled her and it was a relief that she hadn't punished him for stepping on her territory. Next time he would have to send a subordinate instead.

* * *

"Hu Man…" The word was sounded out carefully by the bluenette.

That was something Natsuki hadn't heard in a while. She let herself take a moment to let this sink in, eyes concentrating on the floor in front of her.

Mai stayed silent on the bed next to her, judging her reaction. However, her own thoughts soon disrupted that task.

The redhead had never heard of 'elves' before. She couldn't understand exactly what Natsuki meant by the word. "_Maybe it's another name for human in her language? That's unlikely though. This girl speaks the same language as Mikoto and Mikoto had known that word when we first met._" It was the only word that the spikey headed girl had known from the common tongue at the time - the only word she understood the meaning of. _"Maybe elves are a different type of human_. _Or maybe even a people group. She could also be some sort of warlock. Though that idea is rather far-fetched. She looks pretty normal to me."_ Mai watched as Natsuki mechanically fingered the rounded shell of her ear. "_Then again, it's rather queer that she wasn't surprised by Mikoto. Rather, it seemed like she was confused by her own appearance…_"

It was also strange that the girl was still alive after being frozen in an iceberg. At first she had supposed that the girl might have been frozen there by someone else. However since Natsuki had survived, with whatever unknown spell she had used, Mai was determined that she had been the one to cast it - and was a pretty powerful magician at that. There was just no way a normal person could have survived that. A high magic spell like that needed to have the caster nearby at all times to make it keep. Plus, the mini fight with Nao certainly confirmed Mai's suspicions that the girl had magic.

Natsuki MUST be an ice mage. Or at least Mai desperately hoped she was. If only she could just learn what the girl was! It was rather frustrating not to know. If she was an ice mage then she could greatly help the village out in their struggles in this forest. Maybe she could even break through the wall that surrounded the Black Forest! Who knew what possibilities she could bring?

Mai absentmindedly picked at a loose thread from the design on the long brown skirt she was wearing – her mind falling deeper and deeper into thought.

It had been hundreds of years since the last recorded great ice magician and the magic was still seriously sought after. And yet, Mai could have never imagined it to have such potential. That magic had frozen everything. Not only had it frozen and preserved Natsuki, but it had also frozen the entire cave complex. It was probably the only thing that had kept the place from collapsing for however long Natsuki was in there… And that was the biggest question of all. How long had this peculiar girl been in the ice? That question had buzzed through the redhead's mind for the past few days since she had found her. "_It's even possible that she's survived for a few hundred years_…" It was hard to believe looking at the girl's youthful appearance but Mai was certain it was possible. It was definitely more plausible than Nao's theory that she might be a spy of the Red Witch. Though, she couldn't deny that the girl was probably powerful enough to destroy the entire village. Yet, this made it all the more urgent to win Natsuki over.

She thought back to how the ice had drawn her to the girl and then stolen her magic output. This ice magic obviously was able to keep itself going by recharging itself by pulling other magic in. Did that mean that other magicians had had their magic stolen? "_No. Something like this wouldn't have stayed hidden. At least, not for long. Maybe the magic fed off of something else… maybe even a person's life force. There weren't any bodies near the ice block though. Then there's the question of why it reacted to my magic_…" It was scary to think that her magic was used as a sort of meal for someone. Of course she had seen magic being drained before, but that usually took several hours – not several minutes. "_At least I think I was there for only a few minutes."_

Mai broke out of her thoughts when she realized she had forgotten that very girl was sitting right next to her. The quick flick of violet eyes back to the fair face revealed that Natsuki hadn't noticed the redhead's momentary absence of attention. Dark eyebrows drew together as the girl next to her continued pondering. Mai so wanted to know what she was thinking and if she could answer any questions. For now though, Mai thought it best not to press her too much. She looked confused as it was.

Natsuki's mind was indeed a jumble of thoughts. Hu Mans were supposed to be extinct – obliterated by the elves of old. The war between the two races was so long ago that the last soldier who had fought in that war had died about 300 years ago – and he had been thousands of years old when he died. Still too early for an elf to die, even if he was an elder, but Natsuki had read that he had died of a mental disease or heartbreak or something lame like that. Though there had only been a few surviving soldiers from the war, it seemed like most of them all died shortly after from one thing or another. A few had died in a similar way to the guy who died of heartbreak. _"Or maybe it was heart problems. Anyway, those ones were rather sad excuses for the elfish race if you ask me."_

Still, they were remembered as heroes after their deaths. Natsuki remembered reading that much from her mother's research. As a child she had never been much interested on the topic so she never bothered reading any of the material her mother had gathered, but her attention had been drawn to some of the pictures in the books. In those tomes, Hu Mans were supposedly giants. They were portrayed as powerful brutes that had stolen elfin magic and used it to destroy the land.

Natsuki had asked her mother once about her research. It had been right after she had seen a particularly interesting picture of a Hu Man killing hundreds of elves with a wave of a stick. She had been curious about the magic used or something of that nature.

Her mother had brushed her off, though, and said she had forgotten all about that stuff. She had researched the subject before her marriage and then lost interest. Natsuki had always thought that it was her father's sudden death when she was a baby that had caused her mother to stop all manner of study and research. Her mother had naturally been quite intelligent – even if she wasn't very powerful in the practical use of magic. Yet, it seemed a natural explanation that she would give up seeking certain knowledge if it brought up painful memories of the past. A past where their small family had been complete.

Now, after seeing the person sitting next to her, it was rather suspicious that her mother had given up on the subject when she had researched it so much. Could she have known they were still out there? She was on the council so it would make sense if the old geezers had forced her to give up on the topic. But then that might mean that the council knew about the Hu Mans too. Then why was history so different?

Natsuki inwardly sighed. Maybe she just fell into a different dimension. Though she had never heard of any such magic, that sort of situation would make things a lot easier to explain. Maybe it was something like teleportation magic. She had never seen the magic practiced but she was told by her sensei that it existed. Or at least she thought he had. Maybe she had read it in a book somewhere. She had never really paid attention to what her sensei said - just the techniques he had showed her. _"Agh! Stop getting side-tracked! You need answers, not theories."_

Natsuki cleared her throat and looked at the girl next to her. The redhead seemed innocent enough. Her appearance was kinda plain – a brown skirt that reach her ankles and a plain white chemise that tucked into a dull orange cloth wrapped around her waist, with a averaging looking face – but she held a cheerful spirit to herself that brightened up her countenance. Her smile seemed genuine. In fact, it was the first true smile that the bluenette had seen in a long time. However, Natsuki knew that appearances could be deceiving. "_It's not smart to trust her yet. After all, she could be lying. It's nearly impossible for Hu Mans to exist. Plus she says she's going to keep me prisoner! If she really is a Hu Man then it probably means she has some sort of hatred for elves. What am I talking about? Hu Mans are nonexistent – a fairytale! Man this is frustrating. Anyway, tread carefully Natsuki."_

Coming to a conclusion in her thoughts, the bluenette turned back to the redhead. "I don't believe you. If you are what you say you are then I'm going to need proof," said Natsuki in all solemnity. "_Now, let's see how you take that."_

Mai's eyebrows rose at the doubt thrown at her words. She watched Natsuki carefully to see if she was joking, but the bluenette's face said she was serious. She brought her hand up to her chin in a thinking pose. "Hmm… I'm not sure how to answer that. What type of proof do you want?" she said with a touch of nervousness in her voice. Though the question was a bit silly to her, she was feeling the pressure the other girl's intense stare gave off.

The words took Natsuki aback a bit and she panicked at the question, but she was able to keep her face looking indifferent. _"Crap. Just how am I supposed to respond to that? How am I supposed to know the answer to that? Obviously, whatever I learned was a bit fat lie so now I'm at a complete loss." _Natsuki said sarcastically in her head_._ She had been expecting some sort of proclamation, not some honest question.

Mai could see her question made the girl pause and asked another question: "Is there some requirement to being human?" Natsuki frowned, dropping the indifference and tried her best to express annoyance to cover up her panic and momentary lack of words. _"Fuck! Think of something Natsuki! You asked the stupid question, what did you expect? For her to grow five feet in height?!"_

Meanwhile, Mai was having her own battle in her head. "_Shut up, shut up. You're just making things worse_." Yet Mai couldn't stop from continuing her chatter. She felt like if she stopped then the room would implode or something. "I don't know how anyone can doubt anyone else of being a human. Well I do suppose that it is possible that I could be an illusion or one of the Rose Guard, but then I would be rather emotionless. Also, if I was an illusion then you wouldn't be able to touch me. I don't know what other type of thing can look human but it'd be nice if you could tell me any requirements there are to be a human so I can check myself in the future." Mai ended with a cheerful laugh and an innocent smile. She was starting to feel very uncomfortable on the subject. She could see her prattle wasn't doing much good for the conversation. "_What does she want me to say?"_

"Rose Guard?" Natsuki suddenly asked in a questioning voice, her frown now deepening at her confusion instead of annoyance. "What's that?"

Mai was immediately glad to stray from Natsuki's earlier question and let herself breathe easier. "They're the witch's soldiers of course. They're like plant people. It's an ancient type of magic, though the witch is the only one able to use it nowadays. She uses them to control her kingdom and to patrol the Black Forest." Mai was amazed at how cheerful she sounded while saying this. Even talking about the village's sworn enemy was better than facing the girl's overwhelming presence head on.

Natsuki's confusion now clearly showed on her face. Mai continued. "You don't know about the witch do you?"

A shake of the bluenette's head.

"Do you know that you're currently in the Black Forest?"

Another shake.

The redhead's heart sped up a bit. "_Finally! A chance to ask her_."

"Wow. You must've been in that ice a long time." She paused. "How long exactly were you in that ice?"

"_And again we return to the ice."_ Natsuki felt annoyed for real this time. "If I don't even know how I got frozen, then how am I supposed to know that?"

Mai flinched at the sharp tone used. "Oh yeah, sorry." She looked back at the conversation before the whole 'human' thing and cast around for anything to say. "You said you were in a fight. Who were you fighting?"

Mai's tone was harmless enough, but the thought of Tomoe made Natsuki's anger flare up again. "_This conversation is getting me nowhere. I need to get out of here. Then, then I will make Tomoe pay. Pay for trying to kill me and for being such an ass while doing it._"

Natsuki stood up and looked around the room for her clothes. She moved away from the bed and the redhead on it. She felt dizzy but her anger made her determined.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm looking for my clothes." Natsuki walked over to her pack. "I've been here long enough."

"You can't go! Didn't you hear what I said about the Rose Guard and the monsters lurking in the woods? Plus, the villagers would never let you leave while they think you're a spy." Mai wasn't as afraid of the villagers hurting Natsuki as she was afraid of the girl hurting the villagers.

Strangely enough that made Natsuki stop what she was doing. Mai stoop up, readying herself for whatever the girl was going to do next.

"_CRAP!_" The thought rang through Natsuki's head. _"I'm in a village of Hu Mans! If she is speaking the truth, then they're supposed to be ruthless and super powerful. And to top it off, I'm super weak right now. I can't even control the little magic I've regained from sleeping for four days. If I'm going to escape this place then I need to do it when I'm better prepared."_

She looked to see daylight streaming through the window. _"I'll at least need to wait till nightfall."_

Natsuki turned back to face Mai. She opened her mouth to say something but the door suddenly banged opened behind her.

Acting upon reflex, Natsuki quickly turned to meet the intruder head on. She once again reached for her knife and, after finding her knife missing, once again realized she was only wearing a cotton nightgown (and her underwear of course). Said cotton nightgown blew up in her face when a wind abruptly hit her full force. "WAH?!" Natsuki sputtered out as her hands quickly flew to pull the offending garment down.

Cheeks burning, she turned her head to glare when a loud whine came from Mai's direction. "Maaaai. Hungryyyyy." It seemed the spikey headed girl was back. And she was plowing her face into… Mai's boobs? Natsuki's cheeks were delayed in cooling down by the embarrassingly sentimental sight. "_Oook. She's more motherly that I thought_." Another thought hit the bluenette.

"That girl's not your kid is she?" Natsuki deadpanned.

The question was plausible. The redhead looked to be Natsuki's age, but she had never asked the girl how old she actually was. Then again, maybe in her culture it wasn't unreasonable to have kids at a super young age. Maybe she had had Makoto young and she herself just matured really well. Of course, she had no clue as to how humans aged. For all she knew, the girl could be five hundred already.

Mai's hand stopped petting the spikey black hair of the girl clinging to her as she looked up in surprise. "What? No! She's just hungry. Healing magic tends to tire her out." She resumed petting Makoto's head. "Besides, it's ridiculous to think I'd have a kid at this time. I mean, I don't even have a lover or anything. Plus, have you ever heard of a human having a warlock child?" Her voice had softened at that last statement and she looked down fondly at the girl hugging her.

Natsuki remained silent at the question. She had never heard of a human having an elf child, but hey – what did she know? She didn't even know Hu Mans were still in existence until maybe ten to fifteen minutes ago. There was also still the possibility in the bluenette's mind that she might have teleported herself to some other dimension.

At least she had gained some info from the redhead before she set out at night. Not that she really cared what problems the humans were having with this 'Red Witch', but it was still a good idea to avoid any contact with this being. Also, she now reasoned that 'warlock' must be the human word for elf. It was kinda strange that Mai would use this word since she spoke the elfen tongue, but Natsuki supposed it must be a problem in miscommunication that Mikoto and Mai had in the past.

"Anyway, why don't I get some of that stew I was preparing before Mikoto and Nao woke you up. I imagine you're starving after… well, since whenever it was you last ate. I'll be back shortly with a pot." Mai ruffled Mikoto's hair and moved to get up from where the younger girl had tackled her onto the bed. "Mikoto, would you mind setting out some bowls?"

"Sure thing Mai!" The brat yelled out in her over excited manner. She scrambled over to a cabinet and started rummaging around for the dishware while Mai moved past Natsuki out the door.

"Wai-" Natsuki's call to Mai came too late as the noise of door hitting frame blocked out her voice. "_Damn. I still haven't gotten my clothes back_." She sent a glare over to the girl who seemed to be having trouble finding a few measly bowls in the small space of the cabin. "_Geez, I need clothes to get out of here. I just keep getting interrupted_."

Natsuki let out a sigh and returned to sit on her bed, relaxing now that the possible threat was gone. The thought of food made her stomach grumble. She was feeling rather famished since she had awoken. If her enemy, or whatever she was, was going to allow her to get back her strength and replenish her magic then she might as well take advantage. She didn't feel like she was any immediate danger anyway. There was also a good chance that her captors hadn't believed her when she'd said she was an elf. For once her ears were making her feel safer. It was quite a twist that such a burden would actually turn into a benefit – at least for now. Everything would probably go back to being the same when she returned home. Now, though, she just needed to wait and conserve her energy. It wasn't like her home was going anywhere or anything. She'd find someplace with lots of energy and get back there as soon as her magic returned. However, it might be prudent to gather more information first. Even when her magic did eventually return, she had no idea where this Black Forest was or if it was even in the elf kingdom. Mikoto's pointy ears did give her some hope though.

Emeralds slid over to see if said pointy ears had finished her task. It looked like the girl had found the bowls but was stuck comparing two of them. Judging by the drama over food she had displayed earlier, Mikoto was probably comparing the bowl sizes to see which was bigger. Natsuki could actually feel a smirk come to her face at that thought. "_Hehe, it'd be funny if that were true_."

Her inward chuckles stopped as Mikoto started comparing the height and diameter of each bowl to the length of her hand. Natsuki silently watched the girl until she heard Mai coming back.

"Food's here!" Mai yelled out as she pushed open the door with her back. From the pot in her hands came a very potent and delicious aroma. She expertly maneuvered through the small room and hooked the pot's handle so that it could rest over the fire and keep warm. Mikoto was practically jumping up and down in her seat at the sight of food.

"_What kind of childhood did she have_?" Natsuki thought.

"Sorry it took so long to get the stew," Mai said as she began filling up bowls. "Today was my turn to cook for Nao's men and I had pretty much finished up at the mess hall but I didn't get to finish putting in a few spices before I was told that Nao had gone to see you. So I had to do that before getting our portion and letting the men have their meal." She took a seat at the table and gestured to the seat across from her. "Well? Are you just going to sit there or are you going to eat?"

Natsuki could feel her stomach growl in response and she let out a scowl and a grunt just in case the noise could be perceived from the other side of the room. "I'd like my clothes back first."

"Now?" Mai looked over to the black hair girl next to her already asking for seconds. She moved to refill the bowl in response.

"Yes, now."

"It might be wise to wait until after dinner. Otherwise Mikoto might finish off the rest of the stew before we've finished off our first bowl. Besides, we're all girls here. No need to be embarrassed."

Watching the younger girl eat, the bluenette could see Mai's point. "Whatever." Natsuki flipped her hair back over her shoulder and made her way to the table.

After finishing a fourth bowl of stew, Natsuki set down her wooden spoon and met the violets that had been glancing at her all through dinner. "I hope it was good. The stew I mean." The redhead asked kindly with a smile.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, it was good." Natsuki's eyes found the window again and saw it was still light. "Question. Why are we eating dinner now? Isn't it a bit early? I mean, don't get me wrong, I was starved and all that but is that like a Hu Man custom or something?" Natsuki asked.

"It's summer. Of course we'd eat earlier since the days are longer. We only get about eight hours of darkness after all."

Natsuki moved her eyes back to her empty bowl. "Is that so…"

She thought back to when she had been on her quest up the mountain. It had been early winter.

"_What does that mean? Mai's been hinting that I've been in there a long time but I didn't think… Well, I don't know what I thought. She probably thinks I was frozen for hundreds of years or something. Something like that would be impossible though. Even though I've never heard of ice magic before, it's still impossible for something like that to have that much potential. But hey, Hu Mans existed so why not ice magic. Somehow they must be tied together in this mess. Tomoe! She was using one of the forbidden tools that were from the Hu Man War. So she must have frozen me. Either way, I need to speak to an elder_. _What a pain._"

From what Mai said before, it would be another couple hours before she'd be able to make her escape. She turned to the girl noisily finishing up the rest of the stew. "_Well, it's a way to pass the time_."

"So Mikoto… how did you two meet?"

Mai looked at her curiously at the sudden change in conversation. Mikoto answered almost immediately. "Mai found me." The girl said with a big smile.

"Found you?"

"Yup!" Mikoto shook her head for emphasis and hugged Mai's waist.

"_No wonder she's so close to Mai. I wonder if it's safe to trust her after all…"_ Natsuki didn't like that thought. Firstly, because that meant she really did have no allies in this place. Second, and more importantly, because it was degrading of her self-esteem to think an elf would become one of these creatures' pets.

"Weeeell, it was more like she caught me." Mai said while scratching the back of her head. "When I first came to this forest, I fell into one of the traps she set up for food. And we've been together since then."

Natsuki started at the expression on Mai's face as she looked down at Mikoto. It was rather curious to see heartless monsters such as Hu Mans be able to show such emotions. In fact, it was down-right confusing. Why, why, why would they show kindness to their natural enemies? _"Unless their history is as warped as ours?_"

"Hey Mai," Natsuki spoke slowly so as not to stumbled over the mess going through her head, "was there ever a time you've fought against… warlocks?" Natsuki tried to see if the girl knew about the Hu Man wars.

"Me personally? No, there hasn't." Mai eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? Have you?"

"What?!" Natsuki nearly shouted before remembering herself. "That'd be ridiculous," she said in a much quieter voice, tying down her temper at such a notion.

Mai smile returned at the sight of the bluenette nearly pouting at her last comment. "_She doesn't seem to be very good at hiding her emotions_." Mai thought with an inward chuckle.

"Well that's a relief to hear." Mikoto had fallen asleep in her lap and Mai continued to stroke her hair while keeping her eyes on the girl across from her. "I'd hate to have to kill you if you had come after Mikoto." Mai said this in such a light manner that Natsuki almost missed the seriousness of the words' meaning. Natsuki felt no fear towards this girl particularly, but she didn't like the idea of messing with her either.

"But that's impossible right? After all, you were in that – I mean, well, if you didn't even know about the witch then how could you know something like that?" Mai continued in a flippant voice. The redhead's tone was an octave higher than usual and her smile fell as something swam through her mind.

Natsuki stayed quiet. Obviously there was more to this – all she had to do was wait till the chatterbox blurted it out.

"Well actually –" Mai started.

"_That was quick_." Was Natsuki's coinciding thought.

" –there was a time where this village did indeed hunt warlocks. It was before Mikoto and I came here though. The people here weren't really a village in the sense of a crowded community or anything like that back then. Most people lived with their families in the valley, separated from any of the others living in this area. Though I do believe there was a small town near the entrance to the valley. When the Red Witch closed off the valley, the people were pushed into the Black Forest." Mai spoke seriously, her eyes focusing on Mikoto as she told the village's history.

"Why?" Natuski interrupted. "Why didn't they fight back?"

"The Red Witch is too powerful. As it stands, Mikoto and I are the only ones in the village who have any sort of magic. And I highly doubt even we could do anything to that woman. Anyway, when the villagers ran into the Black Forest they were met with many monsters and ended up taking refuge in the hollowed out mountains they found. They adjusted to the forest and were able to survive. However, the warlocks that lived in this forest started to attack. Or at least that's what Nao told me. No one had ever heard of the creatures before, since it was practically a death sentence to venture that far into the forest, and were unprepared to fight back. That's when the Red Witch decided to show a bit of mercy. She told the villagers through one of her guards that she would allow one person to pass through her wall for every warlock the people handed over."

Natsuki didn't like where this was going. She fought with her anger to stay restrained while the redhead continued with her story. Her headache was gradual growing worse. She was finding it harder to breath with her chest hurting so and her stomach started to tie itself into knots. "_What is this? Worry?_"

"And so the villagers did just that." Mai let out with a sigh. "They rounded up the warlocks and proceeded to trade them to the Rose Guard for safe passage for the old folks and younger children and, well, anyone they knew would never have a chance surviving. There were many battles. The warlocks had magic on their side. After the village hired Nao they had a better time of it but many died on both sides. Often, once a warlock was captured they would be tortured so that they wouldn't pose a threat while they were being held until the guards came to take them away. After almost three years of hunting the warlocks, the humans stopped being able to find any and-"

Mai's voice faltered when she sensed something, something dangerous. Violet eyes quickly shifted up from the head in her lap to the bluenette. The emotion held in those emerald eyes was enough to leave her stunned. Natsuki was gulping in ragged breaths, as if her throat were too tight for her to breath. Her eyes were staring down at the table, emeralds slowly being blacked out by dilated pupils. Rage clouded the air in the cabin and light itself appeared to shy away. Suddenly an arm appeared in front of Mai's face and she realized Mikoto had awoken and placed herself in between the two seated people.

Natsuki stood and stayed standing while the two others prepared for any attack. A horrible tension filled the space between them. Mai wasn't really afraid, and she was sure Mikoto wasn't either, they had their magic after all, but she couldn't help thinking that Natsuki looked like a vengeful angel in that moment – the white nightgown and flowing midnight tresses adding extra effect. It was an understatement to say she felt nervous in that moment. The girl could be terrifying and yet so beautiful at the same time.

Natsuki stilled hadn't moved, hadn't said a word - hadn't done anything. Mai lowered Mikoto's arm and moved to stand next to the girl shrouded in her own darkness. She reached a tentative hand forth, wary of what might happen but hoping to help the other girl through whatever trauma she was experiencing. "Natsuki?" Mai slowly place her hand on the bluenette's shoulder. Nothing happened. Mai released some of the tension in her shoulders. "Natsuki, I-"

A horrible pain struck Mai. It traveled up her arm like a lightning bolt and knocked the wind out of her lungs. She felt her legs give out and found herself crumpled on the floor. She thought of the moment when she had first met Natsuki, how the girl had drained her magic then. This was much worse. It felt like her very soul had just been ripped from her body.

"MAI!" Mikoto screamed as she ran to help the powerless girl.

On the other hand, Natsuki wasn't aware of the effect she was having on the two girls. She wasn't even aware she had stood up. She had stopped listening when the redhead had mentioned her people being tortured. HER PEOPLE. Her mind moved back to the fight, to her hometown, and, finally, back to Alyssa. Alyssa. The pressure in Natsuki's ears increased. There was something she needed to do for her. It had something to do with the mountain - before Tomoe. Was she safe? Alyssa. What happened? Why? Why were there elves in this realm?! What did Tomoe do?! She could feel anger overpowering every sense in her body. Her mind flew to where she could imagine she saw her town burning, elves being killed left and right by these blood-thirsty humans. Alyssa. Sweet and serious Alyssa. She could see her friend tied up, beaten, and afraid. The humans! The humans did this?! "_I'll make them pay."_

The bluenette felt the sting of magic return to her fingertips as her head continued to throb. She became conscious of Mai's name being shouted. Her legs moved so that she now faced the redhead on her knees. The girl was breathing heavily. Mikoto stood next to her, holding her up from collapsing.

"Hu Man..." It came out as a hoarse whisper to her ears – like someone who hadn't spoken in years. Yet it filled her soul with pleasure. All the anger and hate she was feeling surged forth as she collected magic in her hand and raised her arm. She no longer saw the girl who had fed her and smiled kindly, all she saw was a Hu Man. "_I'll make them pay_."

Mikoto threw herself in front of the red head and Natsuki faltered. "Mov-"

"I won't let you hurt Mai!"

Natsuki snarled at the two and let her magic show in the form of fire. Yet, Mikoto stayed on the ground – protecting the redhead.

"How dare you!" Natsuki's voice shook as she yelled, but she didn't care. "How could you protect th-this thing, when it killed off your own people?! A Hu Man?!" Tears stung the bluenette's eyes as she pictured Alyssa in pain at the hand of Hu Mans. Sweet Alyssa. "_I'll make them pay_."

Natsuki increased her output of magic, making the flames grow stronger in the palm of her hand. Mai groaned in pain and Natsuki felt a little enjoyment at seeing her suffer.

"Because Mai's not just some human, Mikoto let out steadily. Mai's Mai. And I will protect her." Golden eyes stared into emeralds defiantly. Natsuki and Mikoto stared at each other – neither backing off.

Mikoto's words started to sink in. They gave Natsuki a quick breather to clear her head. "_What am I doing?"_

The bluenette lowered her hand, fists shaking. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill Mai if that meant killing her own kind. It was like killing the people she had just thought to take revenge for. Everything started to twist inside her, her headache was starting to drown out both her hatred and the clarity of mind she just received from Mikoto's proclamation. Natsuki felt like she was breaking – snapping under the weight of her anger. The strain from her magic and just from feeling so much emotion was quickly sapping her energy.

Hands shaking, she sunk to her knees and let her magic dissipate into the air. She could still feel the anger lurking in the back of her mind, but for now she just worked on getting the knot out of her chest. Natsuki felt her eyes burning. She closed them and then opened them a few minutes later. Instead of golden cat eyes, she was met with violet as Mai's tired face studied her. Mikoto was still holding her up but all her attention was now on Mai instead of Natsuki. Mai continued to breathe heavily as she got back her strength from whatever had ailed her a moment ago.

Natsuki looked down to her hands. Guilt started to hit her at what she almost did. "_Was I… was I about to kill Mai?_" The pain in her chest intensified as she sat there, all thoughts leaving her as an overwhelming and weighty sadness struck her. When had she sat down? "Aah…" She swallowed as she tried to bite back any tears that threatened to fall. Her throat hurt from the action.

Natsuki weakly raised her head to look at Mai. She nearly choked at the soft expression the girl wore. "I…" Her throat tightened. Natsuki couldn't say it – couldn't apologize. She was using all her strength to keep from falling apart. It felt strange. Never had she shown weakness. Not since her mothered had died. And now, it was in front of this girl. She felt like her heart was unraveling.

Mai moved a bit closer with Mikoto's help. She raised a shaky hand and tentatively placed it on Natsuki's cheek. She still couldn't feel any magic returning and she didn't know if she could stand another magic depletion, but she could see the girl was suffering. Mai gently guided the bluenette to lean a bit forward and embraced her in a tender hug. "It's ok. I'm fine. You're going to be fine Natsuki." Mai rocked back and forth, soothing the poor girl in her arms.

Natsuki didn't know how long they stayed in that position, but it was long enough for the ache in her head and chest to slowly disappear – leaving her extremely exhausted. She felt safe. Not even the scorching pain in her lower back could bring her mind out of this world of serenity. It hurt, but she was just too tired to be bothered. She could no longer feel Mai holding her up, but she didn't care. Everything slipped from her mind as she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Mai could tell when the bluenette fell asleep. The girl slumped in her arms and her breathing became barely a whisper against her ear. Yet, she waited awhile before turning to the girl who had sat patiently beside her while she had calmed the unstable bluenette. Mikoto understood the look Mai gave her and moved to help put the unconscious girl on the bed. Looking down at her, Mai could feel her compassion reach out to the girl. Now that she was able to connect a few more dots, her guilt for telling that story now weighed down on her. She had spoken of the warlock hunt with the intention of getting a reaction out of Natsuki, but she hadn't been prepared for just how strong that reaction might be.

One thing was clear though – Natsuki was no ordinary human. Not that Mai thought she was ordinary before, but now Mai was able to put a little history behind the girl's beautiful face. "A human among warlocks." Her eyes wondered down to the cat-eyed girl standing next to her. "Quite the opposites." She mumbled.

"Mai, what should we do now." Mikoto asked with unusually serious expression. Unusual, because it was Mikoto.

Mai knew the underlying question in those words. _How should we get rid of her?_

Mai knelt on the floor next to the sleeping bluenette. She was quite exhausted herself, after having her energy drained like that, and she didn't have the strength to stand anymore but she felt it imperative to watch over the girl before her. She knew all too well the pain of having everything important to you ripped away. Natsuki just needed time and rest. Everything would look better a different day.

Mai cupped Natsuki's cheek again. It was still burning from the last time she had touched it. She remembered how hot the girl had been while holding her in her arms - especially her back. There was something she needed to check…

"Mikoto, will you go out and fetch a pail of water? We need to get her fever down, she's burning up."

"But Mai, I don't thi-"

"Mikoto!" Mai snapped at the girl. Golden eyes widened as Mikoto flinched at the redhead's tone.

Mai paused and calmed herself down before starting again – this time with a cheerful voice and a smile. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. I know what you're thinking. I'll be fine while you're gone. The girl's not dangerous. Plus, if she were, I think I could at least put up a good fight."

"But Mai, your magic…" Mikoto replied softly, eyes still sad at being reprimanded.

"That was nothing. Just a fluke. Everything will be fine," the redhead soothed. "I just got a bit tired, that's all. However, I am still a bit exhausted so could you go get me some water. Do this for me?"

The spikey haired girl nodded and ran out the door after getting a pail by the fireplace. Mai waited a minute before she moved to see if Mikoto came back. When she didn't, the redhead moved from her sitting position to her knees so that the side of the bed came to her waist. From there, she moved the sleeping girl from her back to her stomach and started to unbutton the back of the nightgown. She had to pull the cloth down a bit to get a good view of the girl's but she managed quickly. What she saw made her gasp.

It looked like a tattoo at first, but instead of black ink like the one's Nao's men had – this one was a burning red. She touched it carefully with a finger only to wince in pain when the mark literally burned her. She sucked on her finger as she continued to stare at it. The mark was of a rose circled by a snake, head meeting tail. It was a strange snake. Mai had always thought so when she saw this symbol in the past. The snake was of fire and had a flame engulfing its tail – a reference to the dragons of old. She had seen the snake many times – in books, on banners and flags – but it was a first to see if burned into human flesh. "_No. That isn't the right word. It doesn't look like it was branded, but it doesn't look like a tattoo either. It's alive…"_

Mai hummed at the thought as another puzzle piece clicked into place. The question that now entered the redhead's mind was how did _she_ fit into this – _Viola_.


End file.
